


Purple and Red

by hiba



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-23 23:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6134122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiba/pseuds/hiba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathaniel enlists Juleka's help to dye his hair red before picture day. When the usual photo outcome for Juleka leaves her upset, Nathaniel decides it's his turn to help her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I'd bite the bullet and write a JuleNath story, my crack OTP from Miraculous Ladybug. It's set in the previous school year (the last school picture where Max covers Juleka's face). Might add two more parts if I'm feeling up to it or other hungry crackshippers want it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited: October 2nd, 2016

Juleka wasn't surprised that when she opened her front door Nathaniel was on the other side. He stood small, sketchbook in one hand and a box of red hair dye in the other. He toed the ground anxiously.

"Come in," she ushered quietly.

He gave a short nod and followed her inside.

* * *

 

"Do your parents know what we’re doing?" Juleka asked while she stood by the sink, mixing the various chemicals that made up the dye. She looked up into the mirror, staring at the reflection of him sitting on the edge of her bathtub. His eyes were focused on his blue socks, his big toe drawing an invisible picture on the black shower mat.

"Kind of," he half chuckled wearily, "I told them I wanted to do something with my hair before tomorrow."

 _Picture Day._ Juleka felt her shoulders tense and raise and quickly lowered them back down.

"I don't think they'll be too mad," Nathaniel mused while toying with a lock of chestnut brown hair, "they're always telling me I should be more assertive. I really can't think of a better way to get attention then by dying my hair red." He looked at her hair, how the purple strands cascaded down her back.

Juleka nodded. It was true, he was a small presence. But then again, so was she. This mutual aspect of their personalities was the reason why they were friends in the first place. She turned and faced him.

"Well, it's now or never," she spoke in her usual monotonous tone.

"I guess," he replied, the smell of the peroxide making him dizzy.

* * *

 

Dying his hair was a lot longer of a process than he imagined. The initial bleaching lasted an hour and every moment of it his scalp screamed for help. Juleka whispered her apologies while she rinsed out the offending chemicals.

"Does it always hurt this much?" Nathaniel asked through gritted teeth while leaned over the edge of the bathtub. From his peripheral vision he could see his hair was now blond. He closed his eyes tightly in relief when he felt her fingers run across his scalp.

"I don't know," she replied, "I've only ever had to bleach my ends to get the purple in."

When he remained quiet she told him it got easier the more times he'd do it without really knowing if that was the truth.

* * *

 

The sun was starting to set by the time they were sitting in her room waiting for the red to set in. Juleka lay on her bed, reading a magazine while Nathaniel sat at her desk focused on his sketchbook. Music from her favorite band, Indochine, played softly in the background.

The magazine she was looking through was a typical youth read that exploited teenaged insecurity but hid behind colorful words and pictures of smiling faces. Juleka made a mental note to tell her mom to stop buying her these type of magazines, no matter how innocuous they seemed.

She flipped through the pages, absentmindedly reading the article titles when one caught her attention. _How to Show Your Best Smile for Picture Day!_ Juleka closed the magazine with more force than necessary. She got up and walked towards Nathaniel to check how his hair was coming along. When he didn’t turn at the sound of her footsteps she peered over his head to see what he was so engrossed in.

He was drawing _her_ again. She never commented when he drew Marinette but she thought that with them sitting privately in her room she could push that boundary.

"She's pretty," Juleka stated.

Nathaniel jolted in surprise, causing a lone pencil mark to streak across the drawing. Juleka took a step back, her chin narrowly missing being bumped into the back of his head when he abruptly stood up. He turned and laid wide eyes on her, evidently embarrassed by what he was caught drawing. 

Juleka lowered her head and began to apologize but was stopped when he raised his hand.

"It's fine, I can always erase it," Nathaniel said while turning and quickly shutting his sketchbook. He ignored the fact that she was probably apologizing for what she saw instead of the pencil mark.

"So, uh, do you think it's ready?" Nathaniel awkwardly asked, trying to change the subject away from what they were both thinking. Juleka took his cue and walked towards him. She picked through a few of the pieces of tinfoil that were intertwined with his hair and nodded. They both walked to her bathroom in uncomfortable silence.

* * *

 

Nathaniel stared into the mirror and almost didn't recognize the reflection. He pulled a strand of what was once brown hair, now a loud red.

"Wow," was all he could say.

"You look very nice," Juleka said with a small smile, "red really brings out your eyes." It was true, she never noticed how bold his turquoise eyes were.

"Oh, thanks," he blushed but didn’t take the compliment to heart.

It was dark out now, a good few hours were spent on this process and Nathaniel felt a little guilty. He didn't know much about girls but he had heard from Kim that the night before picture day was usually spent hastily preparing to look the best for tomorrow.

"You did a great job, I'm just sorry that this took longer than I expected," he frowned apologetically.

"It's fine. I didn't have any plans tonight anyway," Juleka smiled again.

"Really?" Nathaniel asked, "But tomorrow is the class picture." He cringed as soon as the words left his mouth, the unfortunate implication that he meant she needed the time to look good for tomorrow hung in the air.

Juleka caught the connotation and suddenly felt self-conscious.

“W-wait!” Nathaniel tripped over his words, “I didn’t mean it like that-,” he was cut off by a buzz from his cellphone. It was probably his mother wondering where he was.

"Sounds like you have to go," Juleka nodded towards the phone.

"Yeah," Nathaniel said and turned towards the door. He took a deep breathe and raised his shoulders, ready to show the world a new Nathaniel Kurtzberg. Once he stepped outside he was surprised by how bold he felt. He then remembered where he was and felt Juleka’s confused gaze on his back. He stammered one last “thank you” and a “goodbye” before hurrying out onto the streets of Paris.

  
Juleka waved after him, secretly excited about the reaction he would get tomorrow. She had to admit that she didn't know what to think earlier this morning when Nathaniel asked her to help him dye his hair. She was even more surprised when he said he wanted it red. She never could have imagined that the quiet brown haired boy who sat beside her in science class would ever want to stand out in that way.  Maybe they were more similar than she initially thought.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada~ part two after what, nearly three months? Sorry. Now that there's a part two I have to finish it with a third part. That's probably going to take another few months, aha. 
> 
> Edited: October 13th, 2016

The walk to school that morning felt much shorter than usual to Nathaniel. He ran his hand through his bright red locks, wondering if it was possible his own nervous sweat would be enough to cause the color to run.

His parent’s reactions the night before were surprisingly positive. His mother gawked at his hair for a moment before smiling, seemingly accepting this as a creative outlet for her artistic son. His father didn’t even notice at first, and when he did he just remarked that he was glad it wasn’t a tattoo. Nathaniel was happy that they accepted his decision to dye his hair but wondered if his classmates would be as kind.

* * *

 

Nathaniel was positive he never had so many eyes on him at once. He was always sure that he was just background noise, something people noticed but never acknowledged. Now his hair just begged for him to be seen.

Mouths fell open, but no sounds were heard. The class fell silent.

"You look great!" Rose cheerfully sang out with raised arms. She ran to the front of the room and grabbed Nathaniel by the cheeks and pulled him closer for inspection.

Suddenly the class broke out into a whirlwind of conversation and activity. It seemed as though everyone had an opinion about his new hair.

"Uh, thanks Rose," he replied through puckered lips as she turned his head from side to side.

"Sure, he looks good if you like tomatoes," Chloe Bourgeois laughed at her own joke. She jabbed into Sabrina's side, forcing her to laugh along.

"You're wrong Chloe," Marinette glared at her with a look of disapproval, "Nathaniel's hair looks very nice."

Nathaniel was surrounded but in that moment it felt like him and Marinette were the only two people in the room. She thought he looked nice? He felt his face reddened and hoped that the others would think it was from Rose's hands, which still clung on his cheeks.

Juleka, who remained in her seat, witnessed everything. She could tell that Nathaniel was overwhelmed by all the attention. She smiled at the scene, temporarily forgetting that it was picture day.

* * *

"Anyways," Rose began while twirling a strand of her shoulder length blonde hair, "I was thinking about doing something with my hair. Do you think a short cut would suit me? I mean like really, really short?" She looked up towards Juleka and Nathaniel and waited for their responses.

Nathaniel thought for a moment. He looked over Rose as if she were a painting hung up in a museum. It was something he did to study the composition of the artwork, to understand how and why an artist decided to paint a picture a certain way, how they decided what looked best. He took a bite of his sandwich and nodded. "Yeah I could see you with a pixie cut or something," he said through chews.

"Yay!" Rose happily exclaimed while clapping her hands. "What do you think Juleka?" Juleka sat off to the side, distracted by the camera equipment strewn across the courtyard.

"Oh Juleka, you're worried about the class picture," Rose sighed and sat beside her best friend.

Worried? Nathaniel was sure nobody liked picture day and the awkwardness surrounding it. But for someone to be concerned by it? He looked at Juleka. She had no reason to be distressed about a simple picture. She had a dark, mystifying beauty about her, something that made her unique in a sea of people.

"What's there to be worried about?" He asked himself more than anyone.

"Plenty," Juleka muttered, "especially when the camera hates you."

"The camera doesn't hate you!" Rose exclaimed.

"Then why is my face always covered," she sighed.

"It isn't always..." Rose trailed off, thinking of an exception.

"Rose is right," Nathaniel pitched in, "everyone has a couple unflattering photos."

"I'm cursed," Juleka sighed, "It's been like this for as long as I can remember."

As if to prove a point she pulled out her cellphone and gave it to Nathaniel. In every selfie, in every group picture with her friends, her face was covered by something. One time it was a bird. In another a blurry basketball whirled past her face. In others her face was cut in half by the frame. He grimaced.

"But this time is going to be different!" Rose happily exclaimed.

Juleka looked up at the open courtyard. "A lot could go wrong outside..."

"The weather forecast said it's going to be sunny all day," Rose winked and elbowed Nathaniel for support.

"And uh," he looked around, "The birds are scared by all the... flashing?"

Juleka took another look around. Maybe they were right.

* * *

 

The eccentric Italian photographer reminded Juleka of a chicken running around without it's head. He measured the distance of the sun, adjusted the bench multiple times and even went as far as examining the height of all the individual subjects for the photo. She supposed his dedication to his craft was to be expected but all the preparation that went into getting the perfect photo wasn't helping her nerves.

"This is unbelievable!" Chloe yelled out, "Why am I all the way off to the side?"

"It's all about the composition," the photographer stated matter-of-factly.

"As if," Chloe groaned, "I'm, like, so totally taller than tomato head and he gets to stand in the middle!"

Nathaniel frowned at the insult that was unmistakably directed at him.

"Chloe, behave yourself," Miss Bustier chastised. Chloe pouted and crossed her arms, obviously bitter over the situation.

"Okay, everyone get into position," the photographer commanded.

Juleka swallowed hard, her vermilion eyes focusing on the camera. From the bench below Rose whispered, "Make sure you show your beautiful smile!" She gave the taller girl a reassuring thumbs up. Juleka nodded and took a deep breath. She took one last look in her wrist mirror and smoothed out her hair. _It'll be fine,_ she thought to herself.

Nathaniel coughed softly, catching her attention. "Let's get this over with," he said with a slight smile.

"Yeah," she agreed.

The photographer stood behind his camera and began the countdown "1..2...3....Spaghetti!"

This was it. Juleka smiled.

But she wasn't met with a flash. She blinked a few times and realized that something was wrong.

The class let out a collective sigh and moved away from the bench.

"You see, that wasn't so bad!" Rose exclaimed and skipped towards Juleka and Nathaniel.

"No," Juleka shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

Juleka looked down in defeat, "Something... something covered my face."

"What?" Rose cried out, "That can't be right!"

"We could always check with the photographer," Nathaniel pointed out.

Rose raced to the man in question and rapidly begged him to let them see the photo.

"Pleasepleasepleaseletusseethephotoyoujusttookit'sveryimportantthatweseeit!"

He blinked, not understanding a word the small girl just said.

"Can we see the picture?" Nathaniel asked much more calmly.

"Of course you can," the photographer eagerly answered, obviously proud of his work.

The three teenagers looked at the small digital screen.

"Oh no," Rose whispered.

Nathaniel shook his head.

Juleka stared blankly at the picture. There she was... with Max's raised hand over her face.

"Oh," the photographer said, "that's too bad."

"Can't you retake it?" Rose pleaded.

He shook his head, "It isn't up to me. You should ask your Principal."

Rose nodded, "I'll go do that!" She ran off to Mr. Damocles.

Juleka sat on the stairs and raised her knees to her chest. Nathaniel stood awkwardly beside her. He wasn't very good at comforting others.

“I’m sorry about that,” Nathaniel said as he nodded his head towards the photography equipment.

“Don’t be sorry,” she sighed, “It’s not your fault that I’m jinxed.”

He frowned and couldn't think of anything else to say. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and sat beside her. With one hand he twirled the ends of his now red hair, something he was still getting used to, and with the other he tapped a nameless tune on his knee. The silence was painful as he thought of ways he could possibly comfort her.

After what seemed like an eternity Rose finally returned, a frown gracing her features. "I tried my best to convince Mr. Damcoles but he said no. He said there's too many classes to get through for a retake. I'm sorry my dear, sweet Juleka."

"It doesn't matter," Juleka said, "I'm used to it." That was a lie. She pushed that thought to the back of her head.

"Hey! How about after school we go get some ice cream? Wouldn't that be fun!" Rose smiled and grabbed Juleka by the hands, hoisting her up.

"Sure," Juleka answered. She appreciated the length her friend went to cheer her up.

"Wanna come?" Rose added to Nathaniel before walking off arm in arm with Juleka.

"Uh no, I'm kind of busy tonight," Nathaniel lied. His interaction with Juleka proved that he wasn't the most comforting person in the world. _They'd be better off without me,_ he thought to himself.

"Suit yourself! Come on Juleka, let's get back to class," Rose cheerfully sang out, skipping away with Juleka in tow.

* * *

 

Nathaniel sat at his desk in his bedroom, sketchbook laid in front of him. It was open to the page of the unfinished drawing of Marinette that still bore the streak of when Juleka surprised him. He couldn't concentrate on finishing it.

He sighed and flipped to a blank page. The white crispness of it begged to be dirtied, to be used as a canvas for creativity. He closed his eyes, trying to picture what to draw. Instead he saw Juleka's face. The disappointment evident in her eyes.

He groaned and leaned back into his chair. He thought about how Juleka helped him in the past. It went beyond his hair. She was always ready to whisper him the answers to Ms. Mendeleiev's questions in class. She took the time to analyze his drawings and give him honest and constructive criticism. While he couldn't even comfort her about something that clearly bothered her.

He was about to close his sketchbook when an idea suddenly struck him. His expertise in drawing was in still life objects; he only took up drawing Marinette because he really liked her. He had to admit that those private drawings were sketchy at best because they were just for himself. But what if he really tried to draw someone?

He dug through his desk drawers and found the seldomly used expensive pencil crayons his parents got him for his last birthday. He grabbed the purple and black pencils and examined them closely. They seemed to be accurate enough.

  
He was going to draw her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I'm sorry this chapter took so long to put together. I had planned this story but when it came to this chapter I just couldn't translate it into words. I never gave up though! I went back and edited the two previous chapters (mainly fixing errors and adding more details). Also, because the official spelling of Nathaniel's name changed from Nathanael I had to fix that too. I'm a little iffy about this chapter but I had to release it now or else I never would. Thank you for all the hits, kudos and comments! I really appreciate them and I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

This was a lot harder than he imagined it would be.

Nathaniel sat in his seat and looked down at the circular outline he drew as the base of Juleka’s head. He had drawn it three days ago, unsure of where to continue. He learned very quickly that secretly staring at someone face-on for any amount of time was extremely difficult.

Frustrated, he blew air at his bangs and reached into his bag for his pencil crayon set. He planned to do this step last but was left with no choice but to start the process of color matching his pencils to Juleka. He turned his head slightly to the right and looked across the aisle that separated the long desks of his homeroom class. He was thankful that Rose was short, he had a clear sightline of Juleka.

Nathaniel decided he would start with her hair because he could clearly see it from where he was sitting. Most of her hair was black, so that was easy enough. He took out his purple pencils for her ombre. He turned his head slightly towards Juleka and held up his pencils as casually as possible, pretending he was looking at the tip of the lead as if he were inspecting the sharpness of the point. The first purple pencil was a lilac color, it was much too light. He put that pencil down and picked up the second one. As he held it up he saw the name of it printed on the side, “Purple Navy.” True to it’s description, it was much too blue. He picked up his final purple hued pencil, which was simply labeled “Violet.” It was a match. Nathaniel smiled triumphantly, still facing Juleka. He noticed too late that Rose was staring back at him, evidently confused, and he quickly turned away.

* * *

 

Nathaniel was proud of his success. He sat at a desk in the school’s library, a few different colored pencils laid out in front of him. Over the course of the week he was able to match many of the his pencils to Juleka. The more obvious ones, like her skin tone and shirt color he was able to do in class. The difficulty came when he had to find the match to much more subtle things. By secretly looking at her during various occasions, Nathaniel was even able to match Juleka’s makeup. He wanted his drawing to be as accurate as possible.

He flipped open his sketchbook. It wasn’t easy, but he was able to complete a rough draft of his drawing. The only thing missing was Juleka’s eyes. Nathaniel always found eyes the hardest to draw. They carried so much emotion, something that was hard to translate to paper. He quickly shut the book when he heard footsteps nearing him. From around a tall bookshelf Rose appeared. She excitedly looked him over and noticed the pencils. She paused for a second, a question forming at her lips, before she quickly looked back up at him.

“Hey Nathaniel,” Rose said in her sugary sweet voice with a small giggle as she sat down across him.

“Hi…?” Nathaniel responded back.

“So, Nathaniel,” Rose began. She folded her hands under her chin and smiled brightly. Her large blue eyes were truly windows to her soul. He could make out the excitement she was trying to hide.

“Yes?” he asked, confused.

“You don’t have something you want to tell me?” she asked.

He looked down at his sketchbook under the palm of his hand. Did she notice what he was trying to do? He looked back at her for some kind of clue. Instead he was greeted by her cheerful smile.

“You don’t have to hide it from me,” Rose folded her arms and nodded her head, “I can see it clear as day.”

Nathaniel swallowed hard, sudden anxiety making it hard for him to breathe. So she knew. He was hoping no one would catch on that he was trying to draw Juleka. He lowered his head in shame.

“It’s pretty silly, I guess,” he admitted timidly.

“Of course it isn’t!” she gasped incredulously, “there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“How did you find out?” Nathaniel asked.

“You’re always staring at Juleka,” Rose spoke, a dreamy expression gracing her features.

“You noticed?” He gulped. How many others did as well?

“Yup,” the girl giggled and shifted her head to one side.

Nathaniel raised his hands to his face and groaned. This was all so embarrassing! He could feel his nails digging into his forehead as he clenched his hands, wishing hard that he could vanish into thin air. If Rose knew, and however many other people, did Juleka also know that he was drawing her? Even more dread washed over him.

Rose stood and rushed around the table and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Hey now,” she soothed, “calm down. Like I said, this isn’t anything to be embarrassed about.”

Rose’s words had no effect on him. If his hands weren’t busy hiding his shame, Nathaniel would have opened his sketchbook and rip up the drawing in question.

“I think you should tell Juleka your feelings,” she gave his shoulders a determined squeeze.

Nathaniel pulled his hands away from his face. “What feelings?”

“Tell her that you love her!” Rose exclaimed.

Nathaniel stood up in surprise and opened his mouth but anything he wanted to say in that moment was lost. All he could do was shake his head.

“Oh please!” begged Rose, “Maybe this is just the thing Juleka needs to know! That someone loves and cares about her for who she is! That someone other than me notices her!”

“I’m not that guy!” Nathaniel raised his hands defensively. He could feel his face redden the longer this misunderstanding took place.

“Then why have you been staring at her so much?” Rose questioned, obviously ready to test his claim.

“It’s because…” Nathaniel brushed his hand through his hair, “...I’m drawing her.”

Rose squinted her eyes in confusion. “Drawing… her?”

“Yes,” Nathaniel sighed.

Before Rose could speak, Nathaniel continued, “I saw how upset she was, you know, on picture day.”

Rose looked down and frowned. The memory of Juleka’s defeated expression stuck with her as it did to him.

“So,” Nathaniel carried on, “as a friend who likes to draw, I thought I could give it a shot at drawing her.” As soon as the words left his mouth he realized that drawing someone was decidedly beyond the realm of friendship. He quickly shook that thought out of his head.

Rose nodded, seemingly sad but quickly perked up and smiled. “That’s a really kind thing to do!”

“I guess,” Nathaniel muttered meekly. He put his hand to his face and was surprised that his cheek still felt hot. He cleared up the misunderstanding, so why was he still so flushed?

“How far along are you?” Rose questioned, suddenly very curious about his secret project.

“I’ve finished the rough draft and picked out most of the colors I’ll be using. Now I just have to draw the more fine details of her appearance,” Nathaniel spoke, counting on his fingers as he listed what he completed and what he now had to do.

“Well, I guess I’ll let you continue your project,” Rose smiled wide. Nathaniel breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she didn’t ask to see the drawing.

“You really are a good person, Nathaniel,” Rose gave him a thumbs up, “if anyone can make Juleka happy, I know it’s you.” She turned and skipped out of the library.

Nathaniel knew that as Juleka’s best friend, what Rose just said was a big deal. He sat down and rested his forehead on the cool tabletop, hoping that would calm down his burning skin.

* * *

 

Today was the day that Nathaniel was going to give his drawing to Juleka. Or so he hoped.

School was over for the day and as Nathaniel walked through the courtyard his eyes immediately spotted Juleka exiting the building. He quickened his pace to catch up with her.

“Juleka!” he shouted to catch her attention. When she turned Nathaniel noticed Rose was with her. He caught up with them and bent over slightly to catch his breathe.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked, wiping away something invisible on his cheek with the sleeve of his jacket.

Juleka looked away, rubbing one of her arms. “Um, actually I already have plans with Rose.”

“That’s okay!” Rose blurted out quickly. “I totally forgot I have to go home and help my Mom with something.” Juleka turned to look at her friend desperately before looking back at Nathaniel. Out of Juleka’s sight, Rose bounced up and down excitedly and smiled at Nathaniel. He took this as a silent “good luck” and nodded his head. Rose gave a quick goodbye and raced off.

“So,” Juleka spoke, uncomfortable. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Nathaniel looked around and noticed many of his classmates and other students were still hanging around the school building. He wanted to be alone with Juleka when he gave her the drawing, mostly to save himself of the embarrassment of other people seeing.

“Can we go to the park?” Nathaniel asked. Juleka nodded her head in response.

They walked together without speaking. It was early November and it showed. Many of the trees in the park had bare branches and the air was crisp and cool. Nathaniel stuck his hands into the pockets of his jacket and Juleka zipped up her sweater. They stopped walking when they reached a section of the park that was void of other people. Nathaniel breathed in deeply and faced Juleka.

“I, uh, want to give you something,” Nathaniel’s voice faltered. All the excitement of giving Juleka her drawing suddenly vanished and was replaced with uncertainty. Would she like it? His doubts in his ability to draw people returned and he wondered if Juleka would be offended if he didn’t do a well enough job.

“Can I ask you something first?” Juleka spoke softly. Nathaniel snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. She stood in front of him, eyes downcast and to the side. She sighed and fidgeted with the fishnet portion of her fingerless gloves. She looked up at him, her vermillion eyes meeting his turquoise ones.

“Y-yeah,” Nathaniel nodded. He noticed they were inches apart and the thought of stepping back crossed his mind but he quickly silenced it.

“Is there something wrong we me?” Juleka asked and bit her lip.

His silence was enough of an answer to Juleka who quickly turned away.

“I knew it,” she murmured sadly.

“What are you talking about?” Nathaniel asked, puzzled.

“You’re an artist,” Juleka pointed out, “You know true beauty when you see it.”

“You’re giving me too much credit,” Nathaniel responded and gently touched the back of her shoulder, turning her around.

“I noticed you staring at me for the past little while,” Juleka glanced down, refusing to meet his eyes.

Nathaniel froze. It was his turn to look away. He could feel his face getting warmer and he raised his hand to his chest to calm his racing heart.

“S-so you noticed,” he managed to stutter out.

“Yeah,” Juleka nodded.

Nathaniel looked back at her. She seemed so small, standing in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest and hands grasping her upper arms.

“Uh, what does me looking at you have to do with something being wrong with you?” Nathaniel asked. It was an honest question and it was better than dealing with the deafening silence.

“Nobody ever notices me,” Juleka began, “well, nobody except Rose. I’m usually fine with that… but then you started looking at me.”

Nathaniel opened and closed his hand into a fist, a nervous habit of his. Maybe he made her uncomfortable? The thought of that made something inside him pang with pain and guilt. Nathaniel lowered his head and was ready to apologize, but was interrupted by Juleka.

“You have an eye for detail and you were always looking at me… something about me has to be off then,” Juleka stated sadly.

Nathaniel didn’t know what to say. She was wrong, so wrong and it hurt him that she thought of herself in such low terms.

“I know I’m weird and completely plain, both inside and out, but for some reason knowing that you think that too just feels terrible,” Juleka finished, bowing her head in defeat.

Not knowing what to say, Nathaniel reached into his messenger bag and carefully pulled out a thick sheet of cardstock paper. He held it in front of him, the end of it scraped against Juleka’s arm.

Juleka silently took the paper, mouth opened slightly in surprise. It was a drawing of her. Her dark hair was flowing over one of her shoulders, her pink lips were formed into a small smile and her eyes looked so big and warm. She brushed her finger on the corner of the drawing and saw Nathaniel’s signature. She looked up.

“This is what I see when I look at you,” Nathaniel stated boldly. He didn’t care that he could feel his heart begin to race again. “I see someone who looks completely different from any other girl I’ve ever seen. I see someone who observes from behind, and knows when it’s better not to say anything at all. Someone who thinks creepy things are super cool and would rather watch horror movies instead of romantic dramas. I see someone who is completely unique in both appearance and personality.”

Juleka was silent. Whatever confidence overcame Nathaniel began to slip away and he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“So y-you see, I was looking at you so much so I could-,” Nathaniel was cut off by Juleka wrapping her arms around his neck. He stumbled backwards, trying to regain his balance and nearly tripped over a large rock. He stood for a moment with his arms by his side, before he lifted them around her waist to hug her back.

“Thank you,” Juleka whispered in a quivering voice. She pulled back slightly so she could stare into his eyes. They stood like that, in each other’s arms, for a few moments. A chirp from a bird broke their trance, and they mutually pulled away. Shy silence overcame the both of them as neither knew what to say.

“Thanks, again,” Juleka spoke to break the quietness.

“Don’t mention it,” Nathaniel replied as casually as possible, despite feeling a lightness in the pit of his stomach and tingles spreading all over his skin.

“So,” Juleka rocked back on her heels, “want to get some ice cream, or something? It’s on me.”

Nathaniel nodded and they began to walk side by side. It was probably past ice cream season but Nathaniel didn’t care. He looked at their growing shadows as they walked away from the early evening sunset. From her shadow, Nathaniel saw Juleka raise her arm. He stopped walking when he felt her gently touch the side of his head.

“What’re you doing?”

“Just inspecting the color,” Juleka replied.

“How’s it looking?” he asked, laughing.

“Hmm…,” she began, “it’s holding up pretty well. But you’re going to have to come by my house when your hair starts growing out so I can fix your roots.”

“It’s a date then,” Nathaniel replied. He quickly turned to make clear what he meant to say but stopped when he saw Juleka smiling.

“Yes,” she agreed, “it’s a date.”


End file.
